cnn has seen a mood shift on wall street. the economy is slowly improving, not fast enough for a lot of people. unemployment too high. some key economic indicators are getting better. what's going right? manufacturing and construction activity picked up. the unemployment rate edged up to 7.9% in january, we learned that more jobs added in 2012 than first reported. fear of a financial crisis is lessening. back in portland, julie's job hunt is now over. >> i got the job! >> reporter: one more piece of economic news. gas prizes moving to the upside and fast. up 13 cents in a week. up 20 cents in a month but, of course, you will pay more if you are in california or the great lakes or the east coast. for "today," tom costello, nbc washington. >>> time to get a check of the day's other top stories. >> with jenna in new orleans, tom is filling in. >>> good morning, everyone. we start with another attempt to rein in iran's nuclear ambitions. vice president joe biden says that the u.s. is ready to hold talks, but only if tehran is ser